A hybrid telecommunications switch includes synchronous transfer mode (circuit), and packet switch fabrics. A controller within the hybrid switch determines the type of traffic that is to be switched in either switch fabric. Real time traffic, such as voice traffic, may be routed by the controller to an circuit switch fabric for example. Internet protocol (IP) and packet traffic may also be routed to the circuit switch fabric. A SONET/SDH overhead byte associated with traffic may be employed by the controller to determine which switch fabric to employ. Circuit switch resources are provisioned for circuit, IP and packet traffic. IP or packet traffic, as indicated by the path overhead byte, is routed to the packet switch after resources are dynamically allocated for the traffic.